At a glance, MARA Holdings (MARA 1.20%) looks like a growing company operating in Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. In the third quarter of 2025, MARA reported year-over-year revenue growth of 92% to $252.4 million and net income of $123.1 million, compared to a net loss of $124.8 million in Q3 2024.
With MARA reaching profitability and seemingly doing well financially, should you invest $1,000 into this company? Before you do, there's a caveat to those numbers.
Image source: Getty Images.
MARA Holdings is heavily reliant on Bitcoin
MARA's financial results need to be taken with a grain of salt, because as the company states in its earnings report, "the increase was primarily driven by a 88% increase in the average [Bitcoin] price, which contributed $113.3 million."
Bitcoin mining is competitive, and it gets increasingly difficult to maintain profits because the rewards for mining a block are halved approximately every four years. Mining companies are also dependent on the price of Bitcoin, a highly volatile asset, because it tends to make up a large portion of their balance sheets. In MARA's case, it holds 53,250 BTC, worth about $4.7 billion (as of Dec. 25).
To diversify, MARA plans to leverage its data center infrastructure, selling it to AI companies. While this could add a new revenue stream, MARA hasn't landed any deals yet. For now, it remains essentially a Bitcoin mining company.
NASDAQ: MARA
Key Data Points
MARA has also seen its share price plummet, and its recent earnings report was little help. It's down 49% over the last year, while Bitcoin has lost 12%. Until MARA starts to secure AI contracts, I don't think it's worth a $1,000 investment, and I'd personally stick to buying Bitcoin.
